Good morning everyone and Happy Saturday once again! It’s been another very busy week for us, especially with Valentine’s Day being part of it. Ron made us a lobster dinner with lots of everything, even dessert, and as we ladies all know, there isn’t anything more sexy than a guy that can cook! (Well, except maybe a guy who cleans, which, yeah, he does a lot of that, too. I’m a very lucky woman!) He also bought two boxes of chocolates for me to choose which one I wanted. I went with the assorted over the Turtles, because I knew I’d eat those all up in one sitting. My rationale was best to give them to Ryan so I will get some “duds”. That way, while I will eat them (it’s chocolate, damnit!), I’ll do so much more slowly throughout the week. (And yep, it worked!)

Meet Pinchy, Clicky, Big Red, Spike, Shorty and Bob.

The next holiday coming up around here is my birthday in a couple weeks, and I’ve been thinking hard as to what I truly want. This may sound cheesy to some, but I actually want to go to Medieval Times. I’ve never been there, and I saw a commercial for $29.95 a person – much less than usual. I didn’t get to go to the Ren Faire last summer, so I figure too, it might calm a craving a bit until I can go this year. Ryan seemed gigged on the idea, and Ron and I agreed it’s a really good price. But, if we don’t go, there’s always a number of other interesting things we can do together.

The thing that’s always kind of sad is after a special day or event is over, because it goes from a high, especially on the anticipation level, to a low after it’s all over. When I return from fests like PSG, it takes a day or two to settle back into Mundania/reality. The Real World just doesn’t run like that, but at least I’m home again, back in my big, warm bed, and I get to start planning for the next fest, building up that high once again. It’s somewhat akin to when I check out the news but in reverse, as the top news stories are almost always lows. A running joke is when I flip on the evening news, I say,

“Hmmm… let’s see who died today.” Isn’t that how it always goes? The top news stories feature a tragic fire, the death of a celebrity, political corruption in one way or another or the general rebranding of the epitome of human evilness. A “slow news day”, where the first segment is a “fluff piece” rarely happens – at least not in a major city. Somewhere in the world, something bad happened, and it’s the job of the news anchors to either scare the crap out of me, tick me off or completely enrage me. If they didn’t do that, they couldn’t push whatever it is their advertisers are promoting.

Well, two pieces in this week’s news did just that:

- Fox Pundit: Women in Military Should “Expect” to Get Raped: What, what WHHHAAAAATTTTT?! That’s right, FOX political commentator Liz Trotta said our men shouldn’t expect to have any self control over their own bodies, and any women within arm’s length of them should count on being a forced piece of ass. Because, hey, it’s there. Why not go for it, right? All’s fair in “love” and war, especially when now women are getting more opportunities to serve in more direct combat positions. (Infantry and Special Forces positions are still not available to women, but I’m sure that will change in the coming years, once the DoD sees women are perfectly capable of doing the job.)

That rationale not only demeans the brave women in combat to little more than an appetizer tray at happy hour (and slut shames them at the same time for daring to “be a man in a man’s world”), but it equally demeans our men as clawed and fanged monsters by default. How DARE she? And Liz all but glorifies our military the rest of the time, so what’s the problem?

The benefits in question, according to Holder, are “medical and dental benefits, basic housing allowances, travel and transportation allowances, family separation benefits, military identification cards, visitation rights in military hospitals, survivor benefits and the right to be buried together in military cemeteries.”

Did you catch that one benefit – housing? It’s basic housing benefits being discussed, which I am seeking clarification whether that includes housing on installations, but even if it is not, that’s an excellent start. And visitation rights in military hospitals – yes, yes and astoundingly YES! This should go without question! No one should be denied the right to be with those they care about the most at life’s most trying times – the whole “in sickness” part of any standard marriage vow. Even our simple city hall marriage had that included by the judge sitting at his desk.

And the other one right there at the end, the right to be buried together in military cemeteries – whoa! Jaw agape! Cue applause! This one I am especially fond of, because it allows a couple, any couple, to eternally rest together, perhaps strengthening their bonds in the hereafter. That benefit to me is one out of love more than anything else, and I applaud the fact the military is realizing that hey, people really don’t choose who they love – it just happens.

“And now for the weather – Tiffany?” (Heh, I just had to toss in a True Blood reference joke there!)

Well ladies and gentleman, that’s about all I have for you this week. I do have quite the busy weekend planned, and I need to get back to it. I hope this year’s PantheaCon is going well, and I also hope I will be able to attend next year. (My brother and his wonderful family lives not too far away, so I’d probably want to extend my trip out there to see them!) I’m working on something really big in the upcoming weeks that will grant us a lot more opportunities, and I have confidence in myself and in the Universe that everything will fall into place.

So have a wonderful week everyone, and don’t let the news get you down. Remember, there’s always a positive piece in there someplace!

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The opinions on this blog are those of the writer(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of The Pagan Newswire Collective, its sponsoring organization, PNC staff, fiscal supporters, or volunteers.